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Buying a home for the first time is a very exciting adventure, but as with any new experience it can be easy to make plenty of mistakes. In order to make a satisfying purchase, try to avoid these 5 big first-timer blunders.
1. Get Pre-Approved before looking for a home
If you are truly ready to make a home purchase, start with first things first. Contact New York Mortgage Exchange to get pre-approved for a mortgage. This will give you a good idea of how much home you can afford and it will make you a viable buyer when you find the right house. Otherwise, you run the risk of falling in love with...

Many homeowners are eager to pay off or pay down their mortgages in order to save themselves money in interest charges. Many lenders have even anticipated this situation by offering buyers a bi-weekly payment program.
What is a Bi-Weekly Mortgage Payment?
Most mortgages are paid once a month, making 12 payments every year. With a bi-weekly payment schedule, the monthly mortgage amount is split into two and paid every two weeks instead. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, this results in 26 half- payments annually, totaling 13 whole payments. This means borrowers basically pay one extra m...

In order to achieve the dream of homeownership, many buyers look for creative financing to aid them in their quest. One such option is a piggyback mortgage, which actually involves taking out two separate loans to make homeownership more affordable. These loans can be very helpful, but borrowers must know the risks in order to be succesful.
Piggyback Definition
Here’s how a piggyback mortgage works. You take out a traditional home loan for 80% of the home purchase price. You put down 10% of your own cash as a downpayment. Then in order to cover the remaining 10%, you take out a sec...

When it comes to mortgages, there are two similar sounding terms that often confuse potential homebuyers: pre-qualification and pre-approval. While they are alike in some ways, their purposes are different. If you are looking to get a mortgage, here’s what you need to know about pre-qualification and pre-approval.
Pre-qualification
A home loan pre-qualification is an informal estimate of how much you can afford and how much a bank would be willing to lend you. It can take place on the phone, in person or even online. The lender will ask for relevant mortgage information, ...

Years ago, a 20% down payment was a requirement for obtaining a mortgage loan. Putting that much money down made it less likely that borrowers would simply default on their home loans and gave lenders a measure of security and collateral in the case of foreclosure.
However, in more recent years, lenders have gotten much more creative in financing to help more Americans become homeowners. There are now mortgage loans that require as little as 3% down up front. In order to compensate for that added risk of loss, lenders require and borrowers with a down payment of less than 20% to pay for pri...